Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, will miss the entire 2022-23 season having suffered a Lisfranc injury in his right foot, the team announced Thursday.
Holmgren will undergo surgery in the “coming weeks,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said Thursday in an impromptu media availability. It’s expected that Holmgren will be healthy by the start of the 2023-24 season.
Holmgren injured his foot last Saturday at a pro-am event in Seattle hosted by former NBA guard Jamal Crawford. The injury occurred when Holmgren, while defending LeBron James on a fast break, planted his right foot before jumping to contest James’ shot.
Presti described the injury as a “rupture of the tendon” and “not a fracture.” Presti said it was a “wrong place, wrong time” bad-luck injury and that the long-term prognosis is “very positive.”
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A Lisfranc joint injury, such as the one suffered by Holmgren, occurs when there is damage to the bones or ligaments in the middle part of the foot, according to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Holmgren’s thin frame and how it will hold up in the NBA was a much-discussed topic in the pre-draft process. Holmgren is listed at 7-foot and 195 pounds.
Presti was asked if Holmgren’s lanky frame makes him more susceptible to an injury like this.
“I understand there’s a lot of first-level thinking going on out there,” Presti said. “We can’t really control that. It’s a figment of the alternate reality that is the internet. But that’s not where reality resides. There are opinions and there are facts, and we are dealing with the facts.”
There were also questions concerning the setting of Holmgren’s injury. The CrawsOver pro-am event, which featured multiple NBA players, was held inside a cramped gym at Seattle Pacific University.
The game was called off in the second quarter due to condensation on the court, which created unsafe playing conditions.
As that relates to Holmgren’s injury, “I don’t think the condensation on the floor was a factor,” Presti said. “Obviously this happened pretty early, and I don’t believe that issue came up until later.”
While playing in a pro-am event looks like a bad decision in hindsight, the CrawsOver was on the list of NBA-sanctioned events, ESPN’s Bobby Marks reported.
“Players are going to play in these,” Presti said, “because the NBA is saying that they are okay to play in.
“The other thing is, guys are playing all over the place all the time everywhere. If you have players that love to play, they are going to play basketball. Every time you step on a basketball court, something like this could happen. It could happen in a game. It could happen in a practice. It could happen in a scrimmage.”
Holmgren’s injury has undoubtedly zapped some of the excitement about the upcoming season, but Presti remained positive about the future.
“There’s going to be some tough times now, don’t get me wrong, but he’s got what it takes and he’ll be ready when he’s ready to come back,” Presti said. “I think he’ll be a force.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Chet Holmgren, Thunder rookie, will miss season with Lisfranc injury